Here We Go Again
by turtledove237
Summary: Simply put, he knows. He read her diary, on accident of course, but he knew who she chose and it wasn't him. Life sucks sometimes, but other times just one thing can change it all. Maybe for him, that thing could be the new student and her seemingly innocent and childlike mentality. But when she gets sucked into his world, can everything remain so pure? Ulrich x OC
1. The First Chapter

**_Chapter 1_**

**_A good friend is a connection to life, a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world. - Lois Wyse_**

Ulrich was not in a good mood. In fact, he was pissed, although he was doing a damn good job of hiding it. His friends were already used to him being grumpy, more so lately, so they didn't see much of a difference.

It had been about a month since Yumi told him that she just wanted to be friends, and today, he _accidentally _stumbled across her diary which had fallen out of her back pack and onto his bed. Odd wasn't around and the book had opened on its own. He just read what was in front of him.

After the first page, he wished he hadn't, but he was stubborn so he continued reading.

The two pages covered in full detail what Yumi liked about William, and not only that, but once they got him back from X.A.N.A and everything became relatively normal again, she was going to ask him out if he didn't ask her.

Over and over, sentence after sentence, she wrote something she liked about him and then tried to reassure herself that he liked her too. He couldn't take it anymore. Without closing the book, he lifted it and tossed it on Odd's bed for him to find when he came back with Kiwi from their walk. Not wanting to be there when that happened, he headed out for a walk of his own.

Odd had realized when he found the diary it was probably not a good idea to mention it to Ulrich, so he instead handed it off to Aelita who promised to give it back the very next day.

Even if he had only been looking at it for a few minutes, Ulrich found that he had almost memorized Yumi's words writing everything down William had that he did not. The words were replaying themselves over and over in his head as of now, which is why he didn't realize he was spacing out until he was sprawled on the ground.

"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry!" A girl exclaimed with worry. He propped himself up on his elbows to get a better look at her.

He'd never seen her before, that was for sure.

"Sorry sorry sorry!" She apologized again, shoving all the materials into her brown messanger bag on the ground. Ulrich chuckled a bit as he got up, finding that he couldn't help but think of her as adorable. She had chocolate brown hair (a bit lighter then his own) and messy side bangs that covered her forehead with the back tied in a high bun and honey colored eyes. She wore a long, low v-neck beige cardigan buttoned to just above her belly button over a white tank top. Peaking out from under it was a red and black plaid pleated skirt and the rest of her legs were covered by black tights. To finish the look, she wore old beat up black converse on her feet.

"It's alright? Need a hand?" When the girl looked up at him, her face was tinted pink yet again and she mutely nodded while stretching out her hand. He grabbed it and pulled her up, finding her a lot lighter then she looked. Somehow, she seemed scrawnier then Odd.

"I'm Ulrich." He told her as he let go of her hand. She clasped her hands behind her back and smiled up at him.

"My name's Aubrey. I'm sorry for bumping into you."

"Whoa, no need to apologize so much." He smirked. She bit her lip nervously.

"Right, sorry."

He raised an amused eyebrow at her as she mentally slapped herself over and over again.

"I just did it again! I'm sorry!"

He couldn't help but laugh at this, completely forgetting about his previous sulking. A few moment later, Aubrey began laughing too.

"This is ridiculous huh? Sor- you know what? Never mind."

Once they finished laughing together, he grinned lightly. At this point, the hallway was mostly abandoned by the students who were in class. "So, what class were you heading to?"

She snapped her fingers. "Right, class!" Then, from the pocket of her bag, she pulled out a folded piece of paper. Her eyes scrunched together as she looked it over.

"Let's see, today's tuesday so. . ."

Ulrich chuckled again. "It's Wednesday actually."

"Ehhhh?" She looked up at him with big confused eyes, and again he found himself thinking oh how cute she was. (He couldn't help it! She looked so tiny and innocent.) It was easy for him to fight the blush on his face as he had so much practice doing it.

"Why don't you just give it to me and I'll take a look for you."

"R-right. Good plan." She smiled sheepishly while handing him the paper.

He was surprised to find that not only were they in the same grade, but they also had almost all their classes together with the exception that she took art while he was forced into wood shop, another class that he completely sucked at.

"Oh, you're in my class, so just follow me." He finally answered while handing her the paper back. She smiled slightly with another blush on her face.

"Thanks."

_'Adorable.'_

Once they got to the class room, Ulrich signaled for her to stay outside while he informed the teacher of the reason they were late. Needless to say, he was not happy but when the teacher saw Aubrey waiting outside, he smiled at her in an 'I'm trying to be nice so you had damn remember what this looks like, because it won't happen again' way and motioned her in. She obliged.

"Class, I'd like to welcome the new transfer student from America. This is Aubrey Johnson."

He looked to her signaling she should introduce herself to the class, so she smiled lightly and blushed from the attention she was getting.

"U-umm, hello? I'm Aubrey, but I guess you already knew that since the teacher just told you. . . I'm sorry if my french comes off bad, I just recently learned it, please treat me well!"

Some of the classmates, (Including the girls) found themselves blushing. The girl had a baby face and a fair complexion, screaming that she could be everyones little sister despite the fact they were all in the same grade.

"Since you already seem to know Ulrich, why don't you take the seat next to him?"

Ulrich was sitting int he back of the room, meaning the seat she was supposed to sit in was placed between him and the window in a corner.

"O-oh! I don't really-"

"Now Miss Johnson, please. I do still have a class to teach." She blushed, something she did _a lot_ and rushed over to the seat pointed out for her. Ulrich waved a quick greeting to her before trying to pay attention to the class. Emphasis on trying. Aubrey sighed, she'd already learned this back in America. Sure she got a C+ on the unit and probably should listen, but whatever. Second times the charm right?

Out of the corner of her eye, she studied the people around her. In front of her was a pink haired girl wearing an overall dress. In the seat in front of Ulrich was a boy who seemed kind of nerdy, clad in a blue sweater and khaki's and next to Ulrich was a boy with blond, gravity defying hair dressed in purple. Were all the people in france this different? Then again, she didn't really have room to complain.

A small paper landed on her desk. Cautiously, she opened it.

_The people sitting around us are my friends. In front of you is Aelita, next to her his Jeremy and next to me is Odd." -Ulrich_

Aubrey smiled at the note and cautiously took out a pencil to write a note back.

_Everyone here is so different from my classmates in America! _-_Aubrey_

He hadn't been expecting her to write back, but found a warm feeling in his chest when she did. It only took a moments hesitation before writing back.

_Is that good different or bad different? -Ulrich_

The note was slipped casually onto her desk. Aubrey giggled slightly to herself at the fact she was able to pass notes behind the teachers back. She felt like a rebel or something!

_Good different! You wouldn't believe how crazy Americans are XD -Aubrey_

They continued to pass notes, feeling like third graders while doing so, but also having fun. Aubrey told Ulrich a bit about what American kids were like and he agreed that the ones at her old school were way overdramatic, and in turn, he told her about his friends. Time flew and before they knew it, class was over.

Aubrey slung her bag over her shoulder and pulled out the schedule again. Next she had science. Where was science again? She had come to the school late last night so she didn't have the time to look around.

"Hey Ulrich?" She looked at him with her big doe eyes open in a pleading look.

"Yeah?"

"Wheres the science classroom?"

"Why don't I just show." He chuckled. She nodded with a heated face and followed him out of the room to the science lab. A bad feeling bubbled in the pit of her stomach. If she was bad at math, then she was absolutely terrible at science.

Maybe with Ulrich though, it wouldn't be that bad.

Odd wasn't stupid. He knew Ulrich had been a lot grumpier these days and he knew why too. When he found Yumi's diary conveniently on his bed, he decided to take a quick peak. The page Ulrich had been looking at was folded in a bit from where he carelessly and angrily chucked it on the bed, so Odd knew that was the page to look at. Sympathy washed over him in strong waves after reading what Ulrich read, and he knew that his friend had every right to be mad. Hopefully, he would take it easy letting all that anger out.

So when he saw that Ulrich was actually _smiling _and _laughing _with the new girl Aubrey, he knew that she was unspokenly his. Odd had been with plenty of the girls here at Kadic and usually did make a move on the new ones, but he decided that he could _not _flirt with the new girl just this once. He might have been raising his hopes too high, but it seemed like with Aubrey, Ulrich forgot all about his recent rejection. It was like none of it had ever happened. If she made him happy, then Odd could leave Aubrey alone.

Shame though, she was a cute one after all. Of course they could still be friends.

Quiet laughter filled the cafeteria, and not from the students but the two teens who'd just walked in. Ulrich was laughing at something Aubrey had said while she giggled along with him. Aelita sat down and grinned.

"So, who do you think the new girl is? Ulrich seems to have taken a liking to her."

"Who?" Yumi sat down with her three friends already there. Odd stopped inhaling his food for a second to look at her with a smirk.

"The new girl Aubrey. Take a look for yourself."

That's what Yumi did. She turned to see Ulrich and Aubrey in the lunch line together. Ulrich nudged her causing whatever food she'd put on the edge of her tray spill over and onto the counter. In retaliation to this, she picked up the spoiled food and chucked it at him. It was aimed perfectly rebounding off his cheek bone and to the floor. Aubrey then looked away from him and tried her best not to laugh, but was still snickering to herself.

A small wave of jealousy washed over Yumi but she quickly shook it off and smiled. This is what she wanted, right? Even if she wasn't totally over him, she wanted Ulrich to be happy.

One night after a mission on Lyoko, she decided that she needed to clear up how she felt about William and Ulrich. She knew that she liked both of them and William was being possessed by X.A.N.A, so Ulrich was the more obvious choice. Somehow though, the thought of losing William just hurt more. Ulrich was always going to be there for her and she was grateful for that. It took her a while to figure out that she was more in friend love with him then love love.

What she meant by friend love was that he was her best friend and she found herself wanting to spend more time with him. She was always excited to hear from him or practice combat skills, but it wasn't in a romantic way at all. Just a friend way. Friend love.

William was different. He made her heart beat a bit faster when they were alone together and something about him gave her a sense of security. Yumi loved how he looked at her like she was the only girl in the world and couldn't wait for the day he would do it again, the day he was free.

The jealousy she felt towards Aubrey then was not romantic, it was that she wasn't laughing with Ulrich and Aubrey was. He had been acting different around her a lot more lately and she couldn't understand why. Maybe he was bitter about being told she just wanted to be friends?

"Do you guys mind if Aubrey sits with us?" Ulrich asked. Said girl immediately jumped into defense mode.

"No! Don't worry about it, it's fine, really! I wouldn't want to impose. I can just sit over there, see? Nobody at that table. I'll just be going there now, bye!"

Odd laughed as he grabbed her arm and plopped her down in the chair between him and Ulrich. Yumi had wordlessly grabbed another chair for herself to put at the end of the table. She wasn't bothered at all and was totally fine with Aubrey sitting with them. In fact, Yumi was interested to know more about her.

"Not so fast! It's fine that you sit with us. I for one want you too."

Aelita raised a hand "I second the motion."

Yumi smiled. "And I third it."

"You know my vote." Ulrich shrugged taking a next to her. Aubrey could tell by the way Odd and Ulrich glanced at her a few times and sat on the edge of their seats that they would nab her should she try to escape.

"A-alright then. Thank you for the hospitality." She smiled warmly at them with a blush causing them all to smile.

"So Aubrey, how did you meet Ulrich?"

She gulped. Her hand twitched up to scratch the back of her head. "It's kind of embarrassing actually. I was running around trying to find my class and I bumped into him, knocking him to the ground. . . After that he helped me up and he offered to take me to the classroom since I didn't know where it was. Of course I was going to head to my tuesday first period class-" She rambled.

"Even though you had circled Wednesday with a red pen so you would _remember _it was Wednesday-" Ulrich added.

Aubrey's face flushed. "Pft! W-what's your point?"

The group laughed. It seemed like the Lyoko warriors had all taken an instant liking to Aubrey. There was just something about her that made you want to be around her.

"Oh, nothing. No point, just stating the facts." Ulrich mocked with a smirk. Aubrey glared back at him and when they made eye contact, a look of determination crossed both their faces. They didn't look away.

Aelita, Yumi and Jeremy watched awkwardly as the two stared at each other.

"Umm, what are you doing?" Odd asked. Aubrey raised a hand to quiet him.

"Shh. Staring contest."

"Why are you having a staring contest?" Jeremy questioned as he sat down too. Ulrich snapped at him and pointed.

"Shh, beating Aubrey in a staring contest."

"No you aren't!"

"Yes I am."

Both were squinting their eyes which had filled with tears, resisting the urge to blink.

Finally, Aubrey blinked.

"Ha!"

"Darn it!" The girl sighed in defeat, turning back to her food and taking a bite of it. Ulrich was grinning in victory.

"Don't get so cocky." Aubrey mumbled. "That only tied the score."

Aelita raised an eyebrow. "Tied the score."

"3 to 3." Ulrich answered while taking a bite of his croissant. Odd was staring at it longingly but Ulrich was making it clear that it was his.

Seeing they needed further explanation, Aubrey explained it. "Class is boring, so we needed something to do. After ten games of tic tac toe, four rounds of the dot game and six thumb wars, we decided on staring contests."

Jeremy scoffed. "You wouldn't be so bored if you _paid attention._"

Dead serious faces, Ulrich and Aubrey answered at the same time "Yes we would."

Everyone blinked, slightly creeped out by how in sync they were. Seriously though, did they practice in class or something?

Just then, a beeping noise could be heard from Jeremy's computer. The group exchanged glances except a little brown haired american who continued to munch on her food with happiness.

"X.A.N.A attack." Jeremy mouthed. The others nodded, getting up to leave.

"Sorry Aubrey, we have to go. See you later though yeah?" Yumi asked. The rest of the teens had already rushed out of the room.

Aubrey felt abandoned and hurt, but shrugged it off with a smile. "Yeah, of course! Bye Yumi!"

"Bye." The japanese girl waved, rushing after her friends. Aubrey sighed, and dumped the rest of her lunch in the garbage, no longer feeling hungry.


	2. The Second Chapter

**Chapter 2**

**_When I look at you, I can feel it. And-and when I look at you, and I... I'm home! -Dory (Finding Nemo)_**

"I win! That puts the score at 4-2!"

Ulrich blinked, trying to clear away the light that had come with the return to the past program from his vision, only to discover that they had returned to lunch when he and Aubrey had been in the middle of a staring contest. This, of course, meant she had won.

"Damn it!" Ulrich exclaimed. Aubrey laughed at him with a smile on her face. She decided that she was extremely grateful that she had bumped into Ulrich that morning. The first time she looked at him and he at her, she'd felt like they just clicked. And, they had become really good friends just through note passing and playing games in class. He was slowly becoming one of the best friend's she'd ever had.

And yes, it did scare her that their friendship was moving so quickly as she had never really connected with someone on this level before, but it also made her happy. And that's why she decided to continue to get to know him better.

"4-2? Whatever this is Ulrich, I hope you know you're getting your ass whipped by a girl." Odd snorted in laughter. Ulrich glared at him, and then at his other friends as they joined in laughing as well.

"It's kind of like a staring contest... tournament." Aubrey began to explain, not knowing that she had already explained it earlier that day (to the Lyoko Warriors anyway) "Class is boring, so we needed something to do. After ten games of tic tac toe, four rounds of the dot game and six thumb wars, we decided on staring contests."

Ulrich felt slightly guilty about having to follow along with the conversation while Aubrey remained blissfully unaware that his friends already knew what she was going to say.

Jeremy scoffed, a hidden smile playing amongst his lips. "You wouldn't be so bored if you _paid attention._"

Once again, with dead serious faces, Ulrich and Aubrey answered at the same time "Yes we would."

The table laughed again, Aubrey blushing slightly and glancing at Ulrich, who met her gaze and winked at her. Her smile grew impossibly bigger at that.

Thankfully, lunch was normal after that and the next class that everyone but Yumi had together was gym. Aelita, being the sweet kind soul she was, showed Aubrey where the locker rooms were and acted as a guide for the girl.

"So, what kind of things do we do in this class?" Aubrey asked, slipping on her gym clothes. She was wearing grey leggings that stopped just bellow the knee's with a long, red bubble tank top. On her feet she wore her black low top converse with her hair still tied up in a bun, a black headband added to keep her bangs out of her face.

"The usual. We go for a jog and then work on skills like flexibility or strength. Why? Do they do something different in America?"

Aubrey snorted. "Our entire class was just dodgeball or kickball or something!"

"Dodgeball?" Aelita repeated in confusion. Aubrey's eyes widened.

"You don't know what Dodgeball is?!"

"Er, no, should I?"

The brown haired girl nodded, talking wildly with both her voice and hands as she explained the game.

"Okay, so dodgeball. Dodgeball is played on a court or field. The court is broken into two sides, and on each side you have teams of however many people you want, as long as they're even. Several rubber or foam balls are placed on the center line of the court. When the coach says go, players run have to run forward and try to grab a ball, though not everyone does."

"How come?" Aelita interrupted. Aubrey placed up a finger.

"Hold on, I'm getting there. Okay, so once you have a ball, your objective is to throw it and try to hit one of the players on the opposite team. If a player gets hit anywhere but the face, then they're out. If a player gets hit in the face, then it's called a head shot and the thrower is out. If a player catches a ball, then the thrower is also out. The closer you are to the center line, the more likely you are to get hit. The game keeps going until only one team still has players or a player on the field, and that team wins."

"Doesn't that hurt?!"

"Like crazy." Aubrey agreed. "Also, there are several different versions of dodgeball, the difference only being how players who are out can get back in the game. For example, in one type of dodgeball, if a player catches a ball thrown by the opposite team, their entire team get's to come back on the field. In another version, you have a medic. If the medic touches a fallen player on their team, then that player can come back in. Sometimes, when players are hit, they stay on the field and other times they have to go off to the side. Anyway, if the medic gets hit with the ball, then the game is over."

By this time, the girls had reached the field. Aelita was gaping with her hand placed over her mouth. "That game sounds awful! It's like a war!"

"Yeah, I guess it is. Thing is though, a lot of people love the game. Something about pegging people with a rubber ball as hard as you can is apparently very appealing to them. Actually, it's mostly loved by really athletic guys."

Just as they finished the talking, they made it to the field and took their seats between Odd and Ulrich. Aubrey had already been informed that Jeremy was, once again, skipping this class.

"Hello Ladies." Odd greeted. "What'cha been up to?"

"I was just explaining what dodgeball is to Aelita. I'm surprised she's never heard of that game." Aubrey answered.

"Dodgeball? I love dodgeball!" Odd exclaimed. Aelita's face grew into one of horror.

"How could you?! It sounds terrible!"

"It isn't that bad." Ulrich defended. "I'm sure Aubrey just made it seem that way because she's a big baby." Of course, his tone kept a playful edge the entire time.

"No." The girl cut in quietly. She was huddled between Ulrich and Aelita with her legs crossed and pulled up to her chest. She was hugging them close, her chin resting on her knee's. "The last time I played dodgeball, a guy threw it at me so hard he dislocated my shoulder."

Ulrich's eyes widened. "Aubrey I-"

"No, it's okay!" She cut him off, giving him a bright smile from over her arms. "You didn't know, it's fine. American's are a lot more violent so don't worry about it."

"Right." He responded. Somehow though, he still felt guilty about what he'd said, and he really did want to apologize, but he wasn't sure how. She wasn't _looking _for his forgiveness at all, but that didn't make his comment okay. He resisted the urge to face palm. Why was he so stupid?

The rest of the day had gone by fast for Aubrey. It was weird to think that in one day she had already made such good friends. As the hours went on, she found that she and Ulrich only continued to grow closer and closer.

It was around 9:00pm and she was completely exhausted. All she wanted right now was a good nights sleep.

So, completely ready for bed, she slipped under her new covers, curled up while clutching the blankets and with a happy sigh, fell into unconsciousness.

Aubrey woke up in the middle of the night coughing. At first, it didn't seem like much, but before she knew it she was doubled over and sitting up on the bed, one hand covering her mouth and the other clutching her stomach. She tried to take a deep breath, but it only made her cough harder.

Weakly, she pulled the covers off of her with the hand that had been clutching her stomach and tried to get out of the bed. Unfortunetly, she didn't have enough energy to do that and her knee's gave out on her, leaving her useless on the floor. Tears streamed down her face from the lack of oxygen she was getting.

She opened her eyes slightly, but beyond the blurred tears all she could see was a purple haze surrounding her. It was impossible to see past, coloring everything in her vision purple. If she concentrated, she could make out shape of her computer desk with the laptop sitting on it.

She tried not to breathe, holding her breathe until it simply became impossible to do so and ended up coughing harder, her whole body dry heaving from the action. She was on all fours, back arching higher and higher with each couch.

And then, to her great relief, Aubrey's bedroom door slammed open. Her head was pounding, and she couldn't tell who it was, but she only hoped they could get her out of there.

Arms wrapped around her waist, scooping her up and turning her so she was being held bridal style. She clasped onto the persons shirt weakly, gasping, trying to get as much oxygen as she could. Each deep breath she took made her cough on the exhale.

"Shh." A voice soothed her. It was calm, familiar and welcoming. "Breathe Aubrey, breathe. Just breathe normally. Shallow breaths, there you go."

She did as the voice instructed her, letting her breaths come out lighter and faster. What felt like hours later, her breathing was back to normal. She raised a hand, wiping the tears from her cheeks. Looking up, she was able to identify who was holding her.

"Ulrich." She croaked, gently snuggling against him more, taking in the comfort he offered. She realized now that they were moving. She was in his arms and he was running somewhere.

"Where are we going?" Her voice came out in a whisper, and immediately after asking she started to cough again.

"Aubrey, don't talk." He ordered. "I'm taking you somewhere safe. Hold on a sec." He placed her down, leaning her body back against what felt like a tree. A moment later, a water bottle was being held out to her.

"Don't drink to much and hurry up. We have to keep moving. I'm gonna bring you somewhere safe, I promise."

If her head wasn't pounding so much, she might have been able register all of what Ulrich had said. He was taking her to a safe place. Why? Why wasn't it safe in the dorm? What was that purple haze? Why did it feel like she had been choking?

But she didn't because she was in too much pain to try.

After sipping about 1/3 of the bottle, Ulrich took it away from her. She whined in protest, but he promised she could have more later when they were safe. Without waiting for an answer, he scooped her up again and resumed running through what Aubrey guessed was the woods.

She vaguely heard the sound of metal on metal, and then Ulrich was cradling her with one arm and using the other to climb down a ladder.

Based on the smell, she knew they were in the sewer. Ulrich ran without hesitation, and it felt like they were running forever. Finally, she felt him cradle her with one arm again as they climbed up another ladder. He moved what must of been the sewer cover, and then once they were out he kicked it closed with his foot. Then they were running again.

Aubrey was tired. She felt her eyes closing, and she knew that she needed to sleep.

"Aubrey, you need to stay awake." Ulrich whispered urgently. "I need you to trust me right now, and I need you to know that I'm not going to let you go, okay."

"Mm-hmm." She mumbled. His grip on her tightened.

Then, they were free falling. Well, it felt like free falling. His grip on her was impossible tighter. She herd the light _thump _of Ulrich's feet hitting the ground. They ran again, and stopped. She heard doors close, and the floor beneath them moving.

_Are we on an elevator? _

The doors opened again, and Ulrich sat her down once more. She was leaning against a metal surface. The room around her mostly green, and was that a super computer? More importantly, was that _Jeremy _sitting at the super computer?

Ulrich handed her the water bottle again and headed over to where she was almost positive Jeremy was. She could make out snippets of there conversation as she chugged the soothing liquid down.

_"I found...Her room...choking...X.A.N.A attack...isn't safe...brought her...Jeremy...eye on her...worried...please?"_

_"It's okay...I'll watch...to the scanners...hurry...you know...she changes."_

And then Ulrich was there, crouching in front of her with a hand on her face. From her point of view it seemed like there were two of him, and the only reason she knew this was real was the feeling of his warm hand on her cheek.

"You're gonna be okay Aubrey, I promise."

He got up again, gave a final nod to Jeremy, and went back into the elevator, making eye contact with her one last time before the doors.

Aubrey closed her eyes. She wanted to fall asleep, but Ulrich's voice in her head telling her that she had to stay awake kept replaying in her mind so she did just that. It was hard, but she forced herself to stay awake.

Some time later, the pain in her head dulled enough so that when she opened her eyes, everything was normal. She was now fully able to take in her surroundings. The room was green like she had predicted with green metal walls and flooring. She turned to her left and just like she thought she would, saw Jeremy sitting at a super computer. She opened her bottle of water and finished it off quickly, and once that was done tried to get up off the floor.

Much more difficult then it should have been.

Once she got to her feet, (bare feet, mind you) She began to stumble her way over to Jeremy.

"Jeremy?" She croaked out. The blonde's head instantly snapped over to her.

"Aubrey!" He exclaimed, rushing to get up to help her.

"What about Aubrey? Is she okay?" She thought she heard Ulrich ask, but dismissed it. She must have been hallucinating, Jeremy was the only one there besides her. Jeremy stood next to her and wrapped on arm around her to steady her as he lead her over to the chair.

"How are you doing?" He asked as he gently placed her into the computer chair, hitting a button on the keyboard that made the chair move over a bit so he could still stand in front of the key monitor.

"I've been better." She answered, snuggling back into the comfy fabric. Jeremy chuckled lightly and placed the headset back onto his ear.

"What? No, Ulrich, she's fine. Just woke up actually. Wha- hold on, just calm down. Yeah, she's sitting in the 'captains chair.' I know, so could you guys please just focus on the mission? Yeah, just a bit up ahead. Remember, protect Aelita."

Aubrey figured that whatever Jeremy was doing, it was important, so she didn't bother to ask. Instead, she simply stated, "This is important, isn't it?"

Having fully expected to stall giving a full blown explanation, Jeremy's eyes widened in shock but he nodded. "Very."

There was silence between them again. Jeremy called things into the headset and continued to type on the keyboard while Aubrey stared blankly at the wall. She heard Jeremy also talking to Yumi, Aelita and Odd.

"Are they safe?" She asked suddenly.

"What?"

"Jeremy, I just want to know, are they safe?"

He fumbled a bit before giving an answer. It was hesitant though, making Aubrey doubt that he was telling the truth. "Yeah, they're fine. They're gonna be fine-Yumi!"

The urgency in Jeremy's voice made Aubrey alert. She sat up with a slight rush to the head and looked at Jeremy in a slight panic.

"Jeremy, what's wrong. Is Yumi okay?"

"Y-yeah. She's fine. She'll be here in a minute."

True to his word, a minute later, the elevator door opens, and Aubrey realized that within that minute, she was hardly breathing. However, when she saw the japanese girl, the nervous feeling in her stomach went away and without really knowing why, she bolted out of her chair and rushed over to Yumi, hugging her.

"You're alright!" She exclaimed, arms wrapped around the girls body. Yumi blinked in shock, but slowly hugged the girl back.

"Ya, I am. Did you think I wouldn't be?"

"Well, Jeremy just sounded so surprised and scared when he called out your name that I thought something happened and I mean, I know I'm just getting to know you but the thought that you had died or something was just really-" She took a deep breath and stepped away from the japanese girl. "really scary."

Yumi's face softened. Ulrich had already explained to her that X.A.N.A had attacked the school and the attack had almost killed Aubrey, which is why she was at the factory. At first, Yumi was a bit upset that he would bring her without asking anybody, but seeing the girl now she couldn't help but feel that Ullrich had made the right choice.

"And umm, sorry about hugging you like that. I'm kind of a hugger and I was just relieved that you're okay so. . ."

"It's fine." Yumi laughed. "Really. Besides, who doesn't like hugs?"

"Welllll-" Aubrey started, a finger placed on her chin as though she was contemplating the answer and then slightly nudging her head towards Jeremy. She never got to say anything though, because the two girls had broken out into a fit of giggles.

"So how's it going Einstein?" Yumi asked, walking over to the computer where Jeremy had now taken the seat again. He was still talking on the earpiece, but Aubrey had learned to just ignore him and let him say what he wanted, no questions asked.

"If Ulrich isn't careful, he's going to get himself devirtualized." Jeremy snapped, emphasizing 'Ulrich' and 'Devirtualized.'

Yumi looked worried. "How far to the tower?"

"Not far, but it's being guarded by two tarantulas and a block. Ulrich has twenty life points and Odd has sixty."

"Come on guys..." Yumi trailed off. Feeling awkward, Aubrey decided to lean against the wall behind them. She was staring at the ground and shuffling one of her feet when all of a sudden, she noticed purple gas appear out of no where and head straight towards her.

"YUMI! HE *cough* help me!"

Yumi quickly spun around and was horrified to see Aubrey surrounded by the purple gas that Ulrich had described was at the school. She was coughing again, keeping one hand over her mouth and another against the wall so she could still stand.

"Aubrey!"

Jeremy turned. "Yumi, what is it?"

"Jeremy, whatever you do, don't tell Ulrich okay? Keep them focused."

"_Don't tell Ulrich what?"_ A voice asked. Jeremy ignored it.

Yumi took a deep breath and held it, then ran into the purple fog to get Aubrey out. She grabbed the girls thin arm that was against the wall and began to drag her away, desperate to get her out, yet no matter how far they moved, they were still inside the cloud.

"Yumi, get out and get a breath of air."

"Aubrey, I'll be right back." Yumi whispered, shooting an apologetic look to a girl who couldn't see and then ran right back out of the fog. Aubrey groaned. Her knee's buckled and she fell to the ground again.

"Yumi, it's following her! There's no way to get her out!"

"Then what are we supposed to do? Leave her there?" The Japanese girl snapped. Jeremy shook his head, facing the monitor.

"Deactivate the tower. Ulrich! Odd! Aelita! Look, I didn't want to tell you this, but you've got about two minutes to deactivate the tower before Aubrey..."

_"Before Aubrey what?" _

"Before Aubrey suffocates."

**Suffocates!** Said girl thought. She was back at the point where she was doubled over on all fours, tears streaming on her face and dry heaving whilst still getting in a cough or two.

"Aubrey!"

Aubrey blacked out.

When Aubrey came to, she was able to recognize the group of people around her. There was Jeremy, Yumi, Aelita, Odd and Ulrich. Aelita and Jeremy were back at that computer monitor and Odd and Yumi were leaning against the wall while talking in hushed voices. She was fairly certain that was Ulrich she was looking up at, and a hand was running through her hair.

Oh, and her head was on Ulrich's lap.

"Ulrich?" She whispered. His head snapped down to her, and the worried expression he wore changed to a smile the second they locked gazes.

"Aubrey! You're awake!"

Upon hearing that, the rest of the rooms occupants rushed over to where they were sitting, everyone wanting to make sure Aubrey was okay.

"Yeah, I am." She agreed weakly with a tiny laugh. "What happened?"


	3. The Third Chapter

**Chapter 3**

**Secrets are things we give to others to keep for us. -Elbert Hubbard**

It took them about an hour to explain everything to her. Jeremy and Yumi ended up doing most of the explaining with Aelita adding little details when she could and Odd making jokes every other sentence. Ulrich just stayed quiet and whether he knew it or not, continued to stroke Aubrey's hair with her head on his lap throughout the entire thing.

"That's- That's incredible." Aubrey gapped when they finished. They all smiled at her, not completely sure how she would react. Yumi cringed slightly when she remembered wanting to call the police.

"Yeah, we're real live super heroes that no one knows about!" Odd exclaimed.

"Except for you now." Aelita added.

Aubrey grinned at them. "I guess that you guys can be my heroes then!"

Odd nodded enthusiastically, placing a hand over his heart. "From this day forward, I solemnly swear to be Aubrey's hero."

Aubrey laughed, jumping up abruptly from her spot on Ulrich's lap. She walked around the room, clapping her hands like a nanny.

"Come along now kids, I'd say it's time for bed. We've got about. . ." She pulled out her smart phone, checking the time. "Four more hours to sleep and everyone should be okay!"

That was all there was to it. Everyone agreed, and Yumi gave a wave as she separated

from the group to head back to her house. On the way back, Jeremy explained to Aubrey that he hadn't launched a return to the past this time (and what it was) and hopefully the next time they had to relaunch it they wouldn't go back far enough that she would forget.

Nobody mentioned anything about sending her to Lyoko.

The next day, besides the fact that all the lyoko warriors and Aubrey were extremely tired, everything was normal, just as it was in the few days following. Surprisingly, no X.A.N.A attacks occurred during that time.

After class one day, Aubrey excused herself from the group to be alone.

"How come?" Ulrich asked, furrowing his eyes in confusion. They had all planned to hang out in Jeremy's room after school, and he was actually looking forward to Aubrey being there for the first time without them having to hold back Lyoko conversation.

"Sorry." She apologized. "Just something I have to do."

"Okay." Aelita answered for everyone. "We'll see you at dinner then."

Aubrey thanked them and they watched as she ran off into the woods. Yumi and Jeremy exchanged worried glances.

"You don't think she's trying to go to the factory, do you?" Yumi asked quietly as they walked up to the boys dorm.

"Aubrey wouldn't do that." Ulrich stated firmly. Yumi's eyes narrowed.

"I'm just saying-"

"She isn't like William!" He snapped, and instantly regretted it when he saw the crest fallen and hurt look on Yumi's face.

"Yumi, I'm sorry I-"

"Just don't." She answered in a small voice. "Just leave me alone for now." She closed the door to Jeremy's room knowing that everyone had heard what Ulrich had said and left him outside. He groaned and banged his head against the wall. Why was he so stupid? He could never say anything right, could he?

Maybe it wasn't to late to find Aubrey. With that thought it mind, he left the school and headed off to find her.

"This should do it!" Aubrey exclaimed, standing at the base of a tree. It was one of the tallest she'd seen so far and perfect for climbing. She smiled to herself as she grabbed a knife she kept hidden on her hip between her skin and the elastic band of her skirt and slashed a cross on the tree, then put it away and began to climb up.

It took her about five minutes to get as high as she could possible go, and when she looked up she could see just a few branches blocking her view of the clear blue sky.

"Hi bro." She whispered smiling. "It's me again. I hope I'm not annoying you with how much I keep talking to you. I know I wouldn't be annoyed, so I hope you feel the same. Its been about ten years since you left, and I'm sorry. Mom says you wouldn't want me to take the blame, but I still feel like its my fault. If I hadn't been so stupid you might still be here."

Tears began to stream down her face as she continued to talk. "I started going to Kadic academy yesterday, and I already made some really great friends. I like to think that you're watching out for me, but in case you... anyway, I'll just tell you about them."

And so Aubrey launched her tale to the sky, telling about how she'd met Ulrich in the hallway and how nice he was to her and how they'd just seemed to click. She talked about how nice his friends were to her too and how she felt like they were her friends now, laughing when she talked mentioned how Aelita didn't know what dodgeball was and smiling at Odd's promise to be her hero.

She only stopped when a voice interrupted her. "AUBREY, IS THAT YOU?" A familiar voice called. She looked down and spotted someone looking up at her.

"THAT DEPENDS, IS THAT YOU ULRICH?"

"YEAH. WHAT ARE YOU DOING UP THERE? IT'S DANGEROUS!"

"I'M COMING DOWN! I'LL EXPLAIN EVERYTHING THEN!"

With that Aubrey began her decent.

As soon as her feet hit the ground, Ulrich rushed over to her. "What were you doing up there?" He asked again. "Hold on, and were you crying?" She smiled sadly and gestured that they should go sit down on a large rock just a few yards away. He silently followed her and they sat down. Aubrey looked up at the sky with tears in her eyes.

"I was trying to talk to my older brother." She whispered, her voice cracking in the process. "He died ten years ago, and mama said that there was no way a boy like him didn't make it to heaven. That's why when I talk to him I try to get as close to the sky as I can, because then I'll be closer to where he is." She paused, taking in a deep breath.

"It's all my fault though, that he's gone." Tears fell from Aubrey's eyes but she still wouldn't look at Ulrich, only the sky. He felt like wrapping his arms around her and telling her that he was there for her, but he wanted to let her finish talking first.

"We were playing frisbee out in the yard. I threw it to him and it missed, landing on our roof instead of where I wanted it to go. I cried because I thought the game was over, and I still wanted to play with him. He was three years older then me, my big brother, and it was like he could do anything. I begged him to get a ladder and climb up to get the frisbee like I'd seen my papa do before. He told me it was dangerous, but I begged and begged until he gave in. He got the ladder from the garage and set it against the roof, told me to hold it for him so he wouldn't fall and began to climb. I wanted to see him though, so when he was at the top I let go of the ladder and ran back to watch him get the frisbee, but instead I watched him fall to his death. He landed on the ground and his neck snapped because I wasn't stabilizing the ladder when he tried to get down. He died instantly. I tried to wake him up though, I tried so hard, and then I called my mom. I told her he fell off the ladder and it made him tired so he was sleeping and was being stubborn so he wouldn't wake up. Looking back, I think a part of me knew he was gone and I was just making excuses. Mama found him dead in the front yard on top of her newly planted roses."

"Aubrey." Ulrich whispered sadly, but she continued.

"Mama never blamed me. She said I didn't know better, that I was just a little girl. But it had to be someones fault, and we both knew it was mine. Brother told me to hold the ladder and I didn't do it. Brother told me it was dangerous and I made him go up to get the frisbee. Brother asked me to play frisbee and I threw it on the roof."

Aubrey began to sob and she finally looked at Ulrich, letting out a watery laugh. "Sorry, I've only known you for a few days and I'm already throwing my baggage on you. And I'm sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable because I'm crying and I'm sorry that-"

She was interrupted when he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug. "Do you remember what I told you the first time we talked?"

"Need a hand?"

He chuckled. "A little after that."

"No need to apologize so much." She whispered, burying her head into his chest. He let her sob as he rubbed small circles on her back, letting her sort out her own demons in her head.

"I'm here." He whispered. "I'm here and I'm not going to leave."

Ulrich took a deep breath. What could he say besides that he was there for her? Tell her it wasn't her fault? He couldn't because based on what she told him, it was. Of course it wasn't intentional, nobody who loved their sibling that much would intentionally try to kill them, but it still was, and that was something she was going to have to accept. Unfortunetly, that was a part of who she was, and he forgave her instantly for it, but now she needed to forgive herself and only she could do that. Instead he said what he did based on what he would want to hear, that someone was there for him and no matter what they would stay by his side.

That was all he could do. Stay by her side. It was crazy, promising to stay by the side of a girl he'd only known for a few days, but those days felt like years and he wouldn't want it any other way.

"Thank you." Aubrey said, pulling away from him. She looked up at him and smiled, then hugged him once more. "Thank you so much. You don't know what this means to me, but I'll give you a hint. It means a lot."

They laughed quietly and sat together on the rock for a few more minutes before deciding to head back to the academy, their bond now stronger than ever. Ulrich walked her back to her dorm room and informed her that he hoped to see her feeling better at dinner, which she promised she would. Once her door was closed he headed back up to Jeremy's room and knocked on the door.

Yumi opened it.

"I was just on my way out." She told him coldly, swinging her backpack on her shoulder prepared to leave. He stopped her by grabbing her shoulder.

"Yumi, I'm sorry. What I said was wrong, and I never should have said it. It slipped. I guess I just feel like we're growing apart and I'm blaming it on William when its really my own fault. I don't want to lose you."

She smiled and hugged him. "I don't want to lose you either, and thank you for apologizing. I have to go, so I'll see you tomorrow."

They smiled at each other one last time and then she left.

Ulrich tapped his fingers nervously against his tray. Aubrey wasn't there yet, and dinner had started ten minutes ago. Was she okay? Was she coming down for dinner or was she crying alone in her room? the though made his stomach churn and he almost shot of his chair to run to her and make sure she was okay. Luckily, it was that moment that she plopped down into the chair next to him with a tray full of food.

"Hi guys, mind if I sit here?" She asked in her normal chipper voice. Ulrich sighed in relief. She was okay.

Odd patted her shoulder and chuckled. "Aubrey, you've sat here since you arrived. It's fine, you pretty much have a chair here now, you don't have to ask."

Her eyes widened. "Oh! Oh wow, thank you!"

Aelita smiled. "We're friends Aubrey, its alright."

They talked and joked amongst themselves throughout dinner until Jim came in yelling and saying that everyone had to return to the dorms and the lights had to be off at ten and a bunch of other stuff that nobody cared about. Aubrey and Aelita said goodbye to the boys, then headed up to their own rooms to get ready for bed. To Aubrey's great relief, her room was pretty much just across the hall from Aelita's.

"Goodnight. Tomorrow's sunday so we get to sleep in. See you tomorrow!" The pinkette chirped. Aubrey waved and then ducked into her room after getting ready clad in black boy shorts and a red flowy tank top over a white one. She crawled over to her bed and plugged her iPod into a speaker, quietly playing music to help herself fall asleep.

However, just as she found the previous night, sleep would not come. She was still scared that she would wake up in the middle of the night and be surrounded by that purple haze, and just as had happened the previous night knew that she wouldn't be getting any sleep until the sun began to rise. Like Aelita said though, at least it was sunday so she could sleep in.

That didn't stop her from trying though. Aubrey closed her eyes and counted, reaching 435 before she lost track. After that she tried reading, but ended up finishing her book that she had been half way through in the first place. She even tried just simply closing her eyes, but even that showed visions of purple that forced her to open them once more.

After what seemed like days, light began to streak in her dorm room through her window. She sighed in relief. Now she could finally get some sleep.

It felt like only minutes before there was knocking on her door. "Aubrey? It's me, Aelita. Are you awake?"

"Go away." She mumbled, burying her head into her pillow. She glanced at her clock out of the corner of her eye and noticed unhappily that she'd only been asleep for about 5 hours.

"Do you feel okay? Do you need anything? Can I please come in?"

The brunette sighed. She knew Aelita wouldn't leave now until she came in, so she forced herself to get up and open the door.

"Hi Aelita." She croaked.

"Oh my gosh Aubrey! I don't mean to be rude but you look terrible! Have you been getting enough sleep?"

Aubrey checked that there was no one in the hallway before she pulled Aelita into her room and sat back down on her bed, letting Aelita sit in her spinny chair.

"I think I've gotten about 7 hours of sleep in the past 2 days."

"How come?" Her friend asked, her face full of concern.

"Nightmares. I'm afraid that if I go to sleep, I'll open my eyes and be trapped in X.A.N.A's purple haze again, choking to death."

"Oh Aubrey, I'm so sorry." She whispered, pulling the girl into a hug. Aubrey accepted the comfort, and maybe a little to much so because soon she found herself falling asleep again.

"I'll tell the others that your resting and we'll come back and get you in a few hours okay?"

At that point, Aubrey could hardly hear her as she was focused on the warmth of her blankets, but agreed to whatever Aelita was saying.

"Okay, good afternoon Aelita."

She vaguely heard her friend laugh. "Good afternoon Aubrey."

"Aubrey? Come on, time to wake up!" An obnoxious voice yelled.

Odd.

Aubrey rolled over and groaned, wrapping her blanket cocoon tighter around her. "No it's not!" Her muffled voice yelled back. Her door opened and she heard footsteps.

"Hey Ulrich, what a comfortable looking chair, don't you think?" Odd asked.

"Very." Ulrich agreed.

"We should sit on it."

"We should."

_'Are they talking about my spinny chair?' _Aubrey wondered.

No, no they weren't. They were talking about _her _apparently because she suddenly felt weights crushing her tightly blanket-wrapped body.

"Oww! Hey!" She exclaimed, trying to roll over and get them off. They laughed as they got off her and Odd yanked the blanket away.

"Give it back!" She cried desperately.

"Aubrey, it's 3:00pm. Come hang out with us for a little while before dinner!" Odd begged.

"Fine. Get out so I can change."

"We'll be back in five." Ulrich promised, chuckling as he was pushed out the door.

A few minutes later, Aubrey walked back out as she finished putting on the elastic that would support her bun. Aelita and Yumi had joined the boys waiting at the door, and all five walked down to the courtyard together.

"Where's Jeremy?" Aubrey asked.

"Probably working on some Lyoko stuff. I think he's allergic to fun." Odd replied cheekily. Aubrey smiled.

"I still think it's really amazing how he can do that you know, and that Lyoko really exists. If I ever end back up in the factory with you guys again, is there a way Jeremy can show me a visual on the super computer? I'd really love to see what it looks like."

She didn't notice the others letting out a sigh of relief as Aelita spoke. "Sure! I can send him visuals of what I'm seeing straight to the computer monitor, so I'm sure if the situation called for you being there he wouldn't mind showing you rather then making having you sit in his chair again." Honestly, every one of them had thought she was going to ask to go to Lyoko and now that they'd heard her say that she had only wanted a peak from the monitor they felt quite guilty for doubting her. However, they were all glad she had asked because it helped clear up a few things for them, and they now knew they wouldn't have to worry about her pestering to go to Lyoko. It was their fight, not hers, and she didn't need to be apart of it lest she get hurt in the process.

For a while, they all simply sat on a bench and talked with Aubrey adding her two cents in once in a while but mostly just listening. After a few minutes, she excused herself to go to the bathroom.

As she walked down the hall she mulled over everything that had been happening lately.

_I wonder if there have been any X.A.N.A attacks lately... Nah, they would tell me, right? _

A shadow of doubt crossed her mind. A part of her felt as though maybe... maybe they wouldn't tell her. Maybe they would continue to hold her at an arms distance, like letting her peak into the doorway of their world and talking through the cracks but never letting her in.

But they trusted her, didn't they? She racked her mind for a reason that they wouldn't trust her and couldn't find any. Then again, there could be plenty of reasons that they knew and she didn't because they had returned to the past.

Instead of using the bathroom, Aubrey slunk down against the door and looked up at the small window letting in streams of light. She tried to clear her mind, tell herself that she was just over thinking things but she couldn't. How embarrassing was it to think that everything she said could have been something she said already and the others were just playing along? Had they done that already? Had she already sat on this bathroom floor before and thought all the exact same things while they were on Lyoko?

"No. No, they would tell me. They would tell me, wouldn't they?"

_No, they wouldn't. They wouldn't trust you, they wouldn't want to help them. You're just another person that can't remember. You're on the outside._

"I-I'm not. They've all been so nice to me, they accept me."

_Accepting you would be letting you help them fight and keeping you in the loop with everything going on. They don't accept you. They tolerate you. _

"No."

_Yes._

The small window she had been looking at suddenly cracked. Aubrey's attention snapped towards it and she panicked. She scrambled up to grab the metal handle and open the door, but as soon as it touched her she was shocked by electricity. With a yelp, she let it go and examined the small burns on her hand.

The window burst open causing glass to shatter everywhere. All the little brunette could do was raise her arms to cover her face as small pieces of glass sliced through the air. Bits of it cut her sweater and even nicked her cheek creating a small scrape.

Ever so slowly, long vines that looked as though they were charged with electricity began to grown into the room. Though they seemed to grow only bits at a time, Aubrey estimated about 20 minutes until they reached her if she pressed herself into the far corner of the small room.

_Could this be X.A.N.A?_

Trembling, she reached into her sweater pocket and pulled out her phone. She pulled up her contacts and scrolled through them until she found Jeremy.

Aubrey hit the dial button.

_'Ring, Ring, Ri- Hello?"_

"J-Jeremy, is that you?"

_"Yeah, its me. What's going on Aubrey?" _

Her mouth felt dry. "What ah, what does a X.A.N.A attack look like?"

There was silence at the other end of the phone. Then, _"Why?" _

"Umm... does-" She paused as the plants grew longer, now almost half way down the wall. "Does umm, do long vines packed with electricity bursting through the small window of the girls bathroom I'm in and when trying to escape getting electrocuted by the door handle count?"

_"...Are you alright?"_

"Uh, my hand is burned and I think there's a cut on my face but yeah, I'm good." There was a loud spark and crackle from one of the plants. "...For now." She added

_"There's an activated tower on Lyoko and the others are on their way to the factory now. Are you going to be okay on your own?" _

"Do I have a choice? No one else can get in with the door all zappy and I can't get out because the plants are blocking the window." She winced. "Their half way to the floor now."

_"Okay. I have to hang up now so I can transfer the others, they just got in the elevator. Do you want me to tell them what's going on?" _

"NO! Don't distract them. Just let them know I know you called them and its okay that they ditched me."

_"They didn't mean to-"_

"I-I know. Just umm, if you launch a return to the past, will you tell me what happened?"

_"Yeah, I promise we will. I'll let you know if anything changes and if someone gets devirtualized I'll send them over. They're here now, I have to go."_

"O-okay. Good luck Jeremy."

_"You too." _With a small click the line went dead.

She was terrified. Absolutely terrified. There was no way for her to defend herself in the small room. All that filled the tiny space was a toilet in the far corner, a sink, a mirror and some paper towels. She took a deep shaky breathe and felt a sting on the side of her face. Letting out a yelp, she raised her hand to touch the spot and hissed at the stinging pain when she did. Lowing her hand, it was covered in blood.

Maybe it was more then just a 'scrape.'

The vines were 3/4 of the way to the floor now, but Aubrey refused to think about that. Instead, she decided to try and clean up her face. She grabbed a few paper towels from the dispenser and wet them with warm water, then gently placed them on her face. She dabbed at the cut flinching as she did, but ignored it in order to make sure the cut wouldn't get infected in the case there was no return to the past.

After cleaning her face, she checked herself for other injuries. Besides a few minor cuts she was fine, so she decided to make her way back over to the corner and plopped down in a ball, trying to make herself as small as possible. The vines were now only inches from touching the floor. She gulped with the knowledge that as soon as they reached the ground, their next destination was her.

'_Someone help me.' _


	4. The Fourth Chapter

**Chapter 4**

**_If you can't get someone out of your head, then maybe they're meant to be there- Anonymous _**

Aubrey's eyes were now squeezed shut as she tried to pretend that the situation wasn't real. The vines had reached the ground and began growing towards her, not only getting longer but thicker as well.

_Ring, ring, ring- _"H-hello?"

_"Aubrey, are you okay?"_ It was Jeremy.

"They're on the floor heading towards me."

_"Just stay calm. Odd just got devirtualized so I'm him sending over in a second. He might be a bit mad though..." _

"I think I can handle it.. Besides, I'm pretty safe from his wrath in here!" She tried to joke.

_"But not X.A.N.A's" _

The small girl visibly deflated. "Right. Yeah."

_"Hold on, I'll call you back in a second." _Jeremy said as he quickly hung up.

A few moments later Jeremy called again and Aubrey answered before her phone even had a chance to ring.

_"He's on is way, but he's really mad. I wouldn't be surprised if he managed to break down the door." _

"Oh!" She squeaked. "Well, that's good I guess. Who's he mad at?"

_"Both of us. Me because I didn't tell them you were in trouble and you because you told me not to. The others don't know yet though." _

She let out a breath. "That's not so bad..."

_"I'm going to tell them."_

"What?! Why?"

_"They need to hurry up. How are you? Still okay?"_

The vines now completely covered one half of the room and she could of sworn they were growing faster and were sparked with more electricity. "Umm... do you want me to tell you or send you a picture?"

_"Picture." _

Aubrey gulped and while still keeping the call up, snapped a picture of the room and sent it to Jeremy. She couldn't capture all the details, but it still gave him a pretty good idea of what the place looked like.

_"Oh my god! That's worse then I expected. Aubrey, whatever you do don't touch any metal and stay back against the wall. One touch of that might just kill you." _

"A-already d-done."

_"Okay. I'm sorry, but I have to go again. Odd will be there in a minute." _

"R-right. Bye."

Aubrey scrolled through her contacts again, and her eyes landed on her mom. Oh god, her mom. She couldn't stand losing another child, it would kill her. And what about her dad? Would he be strong enough to coup for both of them if Aubrey die- didn't make it here? Should she call and say goodbye?

No. She had to believe that she was going to be okay. If she called her mom then she might have another panic attack, and it was only a few years ago that she had stopped having them, not to mention that if she even had the slightest reason to believe that Aubrey wasn't safe she would bring her back to America no questions asked.

Suddenly, she heard rapid knocking on the door. The brunette let out a small terrified scream.

"Aubrey, is that you?"

She knew that voice! "Odd! Don't touch the door handle, you'll get electrocuted!"

There was a frustrated growl. "WHAT THE HELL AUBREY! WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST _TELL _US THAT YOU WERE IN TROUBLE!? SOMEONE WOULD HAVE COME TO GET YOU!"

She let out a gasp and pressed herself further into the corner. No one had ever been so angry at her before, and it honestly terrified her. Tears began to stream down her face.

"And then what? You can't get in and I can't get out. The best option was letting you all go and try to deactivate the tower."

"You still could have told us!" He argued back, calming down slightly. Emphasis on slightly.

"That would have just been a distraction!" Her voice croaked on the end revealing to Odd the fact that she was crying.

"No, it would have been a motivation. You're our friend Aubrey, we want to protect you."

She let out a deep breath eyeing the plants once more. They were almost there, just two feet to go and then they would cover the entire room, including her.

"Thank you Odd. I want you to know that I appreciate it, and this isn't your fault. It's not yours or the others or anyone else's."

The boy on the other side of the door paled. "What are you talking about?"

"The vines. There almost here. I'm sorry." Her voice was faster now and it almost sounded like she was pleading. "I'm so sorry."

"Aubrey! You're going to be fine, please!"

One foot.

She choked as she tried to speak. "Tell everyone I'm sorry and if they ever feel like its their fault I forgive them."

"TELL THEM YOURSELF!You're going to be fine, so tell them yourself..."

6 inches.

"If you ever meet my mom, tell her I love her and I never meant to be the reason she lost both her children. Same to my dad too."

"Aubrey please!"

"Odd-"

The vine was about to touch her shoe. This was it, this was the end. A strange feeling of acceptance washed over her. It would be okay, she would be with her brother now and he would take care of her and then they could take care of her family together.

**"Tower Deactivated." **

_Aubrey, please be okay. _

"Return to the past now!"

Everyone was back on the bench again laughing at something Odd had just said. Abruptly, they all stopped and Odd lunged forward, pulling Aubrey into a tight hug.

"Don't ever do that again!"

She looked up puzzled. "Umm... I thought it was a funny joke but if you don't want me to laugh-"

"Oh my god. I forgot you don't know." Odd whispered.

"Know what?" She asked confused, then squeaked as she was pulled away from Odd and wrapped into a hug by Yumi and Aelita.

Ulrich's phone rang and he quickly answered without taking his eyes off Aubrey. "Hello? Yeah Jeremy, she's okay. I know, we'll bring her over. Bye."

As soon as he hung up, Aubrey was pulled from the girls and to him as he wrapped her into the tightest hug of all. She let out a squeak and blushed. Despite that, she gently wrapped her arms around him and hugged back.

"Uh, as much as I love hugs and all, why are you all suddenly acting like I just came back from the dead?"

Ulrich loosened his hold but still held her as he looked her straight in the eye and told her the words that she would come to dread the most. "There was a X.A.N.A attack. You almost died."

"W-what?! I did?"

"Yeah." Odd answered. She looked over at him and Ulrich's arms tightened around her once again. The blonde teen looked pale.

"Did I say something to upset you?"

Odd nodded, looking as though he were in pain. "You said goodbye."

"Oh." She was silent for a moment, having no idea what to say. Yumi looked pale, Aelita gasped and Ulrich was hugging her backwards to his chest. He felt like throwing up. The thought that he had almost lost her as quick as he met her scared him. He didn't know why X.A.N.A had targeted Aubrey, but he knew that the stupid program was going to _pay. _

"I'm sure that it was for a good reason." Aubrey added lightly. Ulrich scowled.

"There's never a good reason unless your absolutely sure. Have a little more faith in us, yeah?"

She looked up at him while blushing and smiled. "Yeah."

A little while later, they all arrived in the factory. Jeremy shot Aubrey a relieved look when she walked in, and in return she smiled gently at him in an I'm-okay kind of way.

"So what happened?" Aubrey asked once they'd all gathered around the super computer. Since Jeremy seemed to know the most, he began by telling Aubrey that there had been an attack and everyone had rushed over to the factory while she was in the bathroom. (They looked guilty for that.) He was alerted of an activated tower on Lyoko, but he didn't know what the attack was until Aubrey had called him. Apparently, she'd gotten locked in the bathroom with rapidly growing vines charged with electricity that were slowly filling the room and if they'd touched her she'd have died of electrocution. She had told Jeremy not to tell anyone so the Lyoko Warriors wouldn't get distracted (they glared at her) and then Odd finished by saying when he got there she was crying and the vines were about to touch her so she'd said goodbye thinking she would die. He had only heard silence when the return to the past was launched, hence why he hugged her as soon as he found out she was okay.

"Whoa." Aubrey whispered, looking down at her hand that had apparently gotten burned. It was a lot to take in.

Jeremy turned to the rest of the group. "With your permission, I want to do a scan on Aubrey so she'll remember the returns to the past. I won't send her to Lyoko, but she'll remember all of X.A.N.A's attacks. Is that okay?"

Aelita was the first to agree. "That's okay with me. She deserves it after what she's been through."

Odd was next. "Yeah! That way she'll remember all my heroic deeds better!" Though his voice was light and joking, Aubrey knew that there was more to his agreement then that reason.

"Okay." Yumi said simply. They all turned to Ulrich who looked conflicted.

"As long as she doesn't go to Lyoko." Ulrich finally agreed.

"Okay. Why don't you guys bring her down to the scanner room and I'll get the program ready. Take the one you see straight across from the elevator."

"Alright." Aubrey agreed, and together the five of them got into the elevator and went down to the scanner room.

Once the doors opened, Aubrey was surprised by what she saw. Three large, yellow, metal cylinders formed a triangle against the walls of the room. They looked narrow, but just wide enough to comfortable fit one person inside.

"So these are the scanners?" Aubrey breathed in awe. The others chuckled at her.

"Yeah. Come on, the one you want is right over here." Ulrich placed a hand on her back and walked her over to the scanner, then instructed her to get inside.

"And this is safe?" She asked again, bitting her lower lip.

"Of course. We wouldn't let you go in if it wasn't. You'll be fine, and we'll see you in just a minute." Yumi placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled at the younger girl, then gave her a light push into the scanner.

"I-I'm ready Jeremy." Aubrey called shakily.

"Okay. I'm starting the program, it'll take about a minute or so, so just be patient."

The last thing Aubrey saw before the doors closed was all of her new friends smiling at her and waving encouragingly.

Once the doors closed, Aelita let her smile slip. "Is it just me, or does it seem like X.A.N.A's been targeting Aubrey lately?"

Yumi nodded. "It is a bit strange. First with the gas and now the plants? I mean, when I was devirtualized and I went to the lab, Aubrey was sitting no where near Jeremy yet instead of going after him the gas went straight to her. Jeremy wasn't affected at all, but he should have been the target like he usually is in that situation."

"And then the electrified plants. Nobody was affected but her, not to mention that it was so slow, it was like he was torturing her." Odd added.

"You don't think he's going after her because she's our friend, do you?" Ulrich asked hesitantly. Was X.A.N.A just using her to get to them because she was defenseless and they weren't?

"It's a good theory, but I don't think so." Aelita decided. "If he wanted to use her to get to us, then he would have possessed her or made a polymorphic specter, not attack her straight on."

There was a small thump from inside the scanner, but the doors didn't open. The four teens in the room rushed over to it alarmed.

"Jeremy, shouldn't that program be done by now?" Ulrich yelled, pressing his ear to the side to listen for any signs of Aubrey.

"It should, I just ended it. Did she not come out?"

"No, the scanners still closed. What's going on?" Aelita asked, scared.

"I don't know, hold on a minute. I'm going to get her out."

Meanwhile, things weren't going so well for Aubrey. It had started off simple, she stood in the scanner as a light moved up and down over her body, scanning her. But then the lights got more intense and overwhelming and she suddenly felt herself fall forward, overwhelmed, and passed out.

**Flash**

"_What ah, what does a X.A.N.A attack look like?" _

**Flash**

_"Umm... does-" She paused as the plants grew longer, now almost half way down the wall. "Does umm, do long vines packed with electricity bursting through the small window of the girls bathroom I'm in and when trying to escape getting electrocuted by the door handle count?"_

_"...Are you alright?"_

_"Uh, my hand is burned and I think there's a cut on my face but yeah, I'm good." There was a loud spark and crackle from one of the plants. "...For now." She added _

_"There's an activated tower on Lyoko and the others are on their way to the factory now. Are you going to be okay on your own?"_

**Flash**

_She was terrified. Absolutely terrified. There was no way for her to defend herself in the small room. All that filled the tiny space was a toilet in the far corner, a sink, a mirror and some paper towels. She took a deep shaky breathe and felt a sting on the side of her face. Letting out a yelp, she raised her hand to touch the spot and hissed at the stinging pain when she did. Lowing her hand, it was covered in blood._

**Flash **

_'Someone help me.' _

**Flash**

_"Just stay calm. Odd just got devirtualized so I'm sending him over in a second. He might be a bit mad though..." _

_"I think I can handle it.. Besides, I'm pretty safe from his wrath in here!" She tried to joke._

_"But not X.A.N.A's" _

**Flash**

_There was a frustrated growl. "WHAT THE HELL AUBREY! WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST TELL US THAT YOU WERE IN TROUBLE!? SOMEONE WOULD HAVE COME TO GET YOU!" _

**Flash**

_"Oh my god! That's worse then I expected. Aubrey, whatever you do don't touch any metal and stay back against the wall. One touch of that might just kill you." _

**Flash**

_"No, it would have been a motivation. You're our friend Aubrey, we want to protect you." _

**Flash**

_"Thank you Odd. I want you to know that I appreciate it, and this isn't your fault. It's not yours or the others or anyone else's." _

_The boy on the other side of the door paled. "What are you talking about?" _

_"The vines. There almost here. I'm sorry." Her voice was faster now and it almost sounded like she was pleading. "I'm so sorry."_

Aubrey began to open her eyes. She was curled in a ball lying on the floor of the scanner and the doors were still closed.

"I remember." She whispered to herself in awe. "I remember everything."

Another wave of pain washed over her and she let out a cry gripping her head, falling into unconsciousness once again.

**Flash**

_"Come on Aelita!" A little brunette called to her older neighbor. "Let's play a game!" _

_Aelita looked like she was about 13 or 14 at the time and the smaller girl was only 4 years old. However, they seemed like the best of friends. _

_"Sure Aubrey, what kind of game do you want to play?" _

_"Let's see who can find the prettiest object in the forest!" _

_"Okay, do you want to ask your brother if he wants to play too?" _

_Her nose scrunched up. "No, he's going hunting with dad later. Come on, let's go!" _

**Flash**

_"Dad, do we really have to go?" _

_"Yes sweetie. We're going to live in America for a while, okay?" _

_"What about Aelita?" _

_Her father looked down at her sadly. "Why don't you go say goodbye to her? I'm sure you'll see her again someday." _

_"But I don't want to leave her!" _

_"You'll make plenty of new friends in America."_

_"No I won't! Not like my big sister!" She ran out the door. _

**Flash**

_"Aelita! Daddy's making us go away to America and we might not come back! He says I have to make new friends!" The little girl sobbed, running into the pinkette's arms. The older girl looked shocked. _

_"You're moving?" _

_"Uh-huh! I don't wanna go though!" _

_"It'll be okay, we'll meet again someday, I promise." _

**Flash**

_The brunette girl now looked slightly older now, probably around 6 or 7 years old. She was sleeping in her bed, but she was so pale and unhealthy looking that she almost seemed dead. _

_"Will she be okay?" A beautiful woman with long dark hair asked the doctor next to her. He sighed. _

_"Physically, she is okay. Mentally however, the guilt is tearing her apart. In order to protect herself, she's erased most of her memories from the age of four to before the accident of him so it doesn't hurt so much to think about." _

_"Oh my baby girl." The woman whispered. "Will she ever get those memories back?" _

_"I don't know." _

The second time Aubrey woke up was when the scanner doors were opening. She tried to lift her head, but it still hurt so instead she stayed on the ground and waited for someone to come and get her.

Footsteps rushed towards her.

"Aubrey! Are you alright?" It was Aelita and also the same voice from her newly aquired memories.

"Yes." She croaked, still not moving. She felt two sets of hands left her up, one grasping each of her arms. Her knee's buckled, but quickly arms wrapped under her shoulders, stabilizing her at each side. Yumi stood in front of her looking worried with Aelita next to her, so it must have been Odd and Ulrich holding her up. The elevator doors opened and Jeremy rushed in, sighing in relief when he saw her but then looking worried once again.

"Aubrey, what happened?" Jeremy asked quickly. Her mouth felt dry still, so she held up a finger for them to wait. They did so still staring at her, and after a minute she began to talk.

"I remembered. I-I remembered being locked in that room with the vines a-and I remembered Aelita before..."

"Before what?" The pink haired girl asked carefully.

"Before I left for America and before you were on Lyoko! We were neighbors! I was four and you must have been fourteen and you were like my big sister! I-I can't believe... you promised we would see each other again. I guess we did, huh?"

Aelita closed her eyes for a moment, looking as though she were concentrating. As soon as her eyes snapped open she was rushing over to Aubrey and placing her hands on the girls shoulders.

"That little brown haired girl from my memories, that's really you?"

"We used to try and find the prettiest objects in the forest." She whispered.

Aelita pulled Aubrey from Ulrich and Odd and hugged her tightly, tears streaming down her face. She couldn't believe it, she'd finally found someone from her past that was familiar and that she was able to physically touch. It was like a dream come true.

"Sorry I didn't realize sooner." Aubrey laughed teary eyed. "Something happened and I erased my own memories of that time."

"What?"

"I'll tell you later. I just can't believe it."

"Me either." Aelita gushed, wiping her face. "You've grown so much."

"Really? You look like you've hardly aged at all."

"Sorry to interrupt, but what's going on?" Yumi asked.

Aelita grabbed Aubrey's hand and looked at their japanese friend. "Ten years ago, before I was put in the super computer, I lived next door to this little girl with brown hair and big honey colored eyes. We used to play together and although I was ten years older and more of a babysitter, she was my best friend. Then one day she came to me sobbing and saying that they were moving to America."

Aubrey squeezed her hand. "That was me."

The group silently gaped at them. Who would have thought that Aubrey and Aelita knew each other ten years ago and that they apparently lived near each other in the woods?

"Hey Aubrey, where's your brother, Simon? That's his name, right? Does he go to Kadic?" Aelita asked with excitement.

The girl froze. Her heart skipped a beat. Oh God. That's right, Aelita knew Simon. She was just as much family to Simon as she was to Aubrey. She could feel Ulrich's gaze boring into her back as she squeezed her eyes shut tightly, trying to hold back tears as she took a deep breath.

"Simons dead Aelita, and it's all my fault."


	5. The Fifth Chapter

**Chapter 5**

**_We should regret our mistakes and learn from them, but never carry them forward into the future with us. -Lucy Maud Montgomery_**

"W-what? Simon's gone?" Aelita sputtered. Aubrey nodded.

"I'm so sorry Aelita, I promise I'll explain everything to you, but not right now, please. Not in front of everyone."

Yumi, Odd and Jeremy stared at her with pity, but Ulrich stared at her with something different in his gaze that not even he could identify. He already knew, and he knew it would be a hard story for her to tell again to Aelita and then to everyone else later.

"I'm sorry, and I promise I'll explain it to the rest of you later, b-but I owe it to Aelita to tell her, so I will. Tonight."

Silence filled the room. It was so dense that Aubrey felt like she could reach out and touch it. She prayed that someone would just break it already so they could leave.

Unsurprisingly, Odd was the one who finally ended it when his stomach growled loudly. It was just the relief that everyone needed which caused them to burst out laughing.

"Could we get back to the cafeteria now? It's dinner and I've got to get back before Rosa gives out all the thirds."

"Right, and I have to head home anyway." Yumi added.

"Then lets head back."

Ulrich had been 'subtly' watching Aubrey the entire way back. He was worried about her. Though she was trying to act fine, the way her shoulders slumped and it seemed like a challenge just for her to lift her foot and take one more step proved otherwise. She was walking next to Aelita who now was afraid of letting Aubrey out of her sight lest she disappear again like her father had.

He'd never really thought about it before, but it was weird to think that when he was just a little kid Aelita was already alive somewhere else in the world a teenager, and that as he was growing up and doing kid things like playing soccer with his friends or doing homework Aelita was living on Lyoko.

And if he was telling the truth, a small part of him was _jealous. _Now that Aubrey had realized she knew Aelita when she was younger, it was likely they would be spending a lot more time together, and that bugged him a little bit. He actually liked the thought that he would be the closest to Aubrey out of all of them and he would know the most about her. However, Aelita had known her first when she was little so maybe that wasn't the case anymore. As much as he hated to admit it, he'd come to terms with the fact that _he needed Aubrey._ After everything that had happened with Yumi, he needed someone who wouldn't look at him with pity or a knowing glance. He needed someone like Aubrey who could make him feel as though none of it had ever happened and pull him away from his dramatic life for a while and just let everything go and have fun. When he was with her, it was like X.A.N.A didn't exist, and while he was the one that had created and knotted the bond between him and his friends, he had no partaking in meeting Aubrey. She was just so innocent and being with her was a breath of fresh air. He could be a third grader again like when they were passing notes in class and playing games and that was okay.

That's when he came to the conclusion that he wanted to know more about Aubrey and be closer to her then he had anyone else before. He wanted to know everything about her from her favorite color to her worst fear, and even more so he wanted her to know about him. In a way, he was turning Aubrey into a new start for himself. He wanted her to be someone he knew he could turn to no matter what, and someone who would understand him as much as he understood them. While his other friends were great, he wasn't sure he could have that kind of relationship with them. He and Yumi were extremely close, but what they had now was also really fragile. He would say something wrong and she would get mad or she would mention William or call him out on something and he would get mad, even if she was right. He was close to Odd too, but Odd was more of the kind of person he would joke and mess around with, who was his opposite and a constant pain but also a friend to keep close that he went to in order to forget his troubles, not remember them. He was his partner and crime and a close friend, but not someone he wanted to see him differently because of his faults. Then there was Jeremy and Aelita. They were great too, but they were that person for each other. They were both slightly awkward, computer geeks and still trying to understand human relationships, but they were closer to each other and spent more time with each other then anyone else at the school he knew.

However, if he was honest and careful, he and Aubrey could have that kind of relationship. Aubrey was gentle, shy, kind, childish, playful, a bit oblivious but most of all understanding and forgiving to everyone but herself, and if the way she was with them any indication, she was loyal. She balanced out his own personality which he saw as awkward, slightly rude, sarcastic, blunt, determined, serious at times and an all around jock. With that thought in mind, he decided that starting tomorrow he would begin getting to know her even better then before.

That night, Aubrey sat in Aelita's room with tears streaming down her face as she retold the story of Simon's death once more. The two girls cried together and Aelita hugged Aubrey in a motherly way just as she used to as they talked and tried to accept everything that had happened.

Finally, after two hours, Aubrey excused herself to go to bed. She was so physically and mentally exhausted that she didn't was hardly able to change into her pajamas before she passed out.

The next morning Aubrey arrived at breakfast early with Ulrich and Odd. Apparently, Aelita was getting extra sleep and Jeremy had gone to the factory early in the morning to work on some stuff.

By the time the two joined them and Odd was getting his third serving, Ulrich and Aubrey were done. Ulrich got up from his seat.

"Hey Aubrey, do you want to take a walk with me before classes?"

"Sure!" She answered optimistically. The two waved goodbye to their friends and dumped their trays, then headed off.

"So where are we going?" Aubrey asked with a smile. Ulrich shrugged.

"Just the woods I guess. Is that okay?"

"Fine!" She squeaked quickly. "The woods is great, yay woods!"

Ulrich began to laugh. "A simple 'yes Ulrich' would have been fine."

"W-whatever."

Aubrey seemed increasingly nervous the longer they walked and kept glancing at Ulrich. The few times he caught her, she'd look away quickly with a blush on her face, causing him to chuckle in amusement.

"Are you okay Aubrey?" He finally asked. She flinched.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"You're acting like I'm going to kill you or something, which I'm not, I swear."

"N-no! It's not that, I'm just curious as to why you asked me, that's all."

"Just want to get to know you better." He shrugged and raised an eyebrow. "Is that a crime."

"Of course not!" She panicked. "It's fine, I'm fine, you're fine and now I'm rambling because I can't talk like a normal person-"

He placed a hand on her shoulder. "How about twenty questions, yeah?"

"Yeah." She agreed with relief. They plopped down in a small open patch of grass and used their backpacks for support as they leaned back to get in a comfortable position side by side.

"I'll start. What's your favorite color?" Ulrich asked.

"Ummmmmm... baby blue. What about yours?"

"Green." He answered quickly. Aubrey giggled.

"I should have guessed. Okay, um, what's your most prized possession?"

He blushed slightly and looked away. "Promise you won't laugh?"

"Why would I?"

"It's my diary." He answered quickly. "My grandmother gave it to me when I was twelve, but I didn't start writing in it until she died two years ago. I have all my personal thoughts and adventures on Lyoko in there."

Aubrey flashed him a grin. "Good for you then! I've tried keeping a diary before, but I always ended up loosing it or something so I've given up."

"Why am I not surprised?"

She elbowed him playfully. "Hey now! I'm not that bad!"

"Oh yeah, what's the day?"

"Tuesday." Aubrey answered confidently. He snickered.

"It's Monday."

"What?!"

Dramatically, Ulrich placed a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eye. "Don't worry, one day we'll find a cure."

Giggling, (and with a red face) she slapped his hand away. "Knock it off!"

"Anyway, what's your most prized possession?"

"This." Aubrey lifted up her sweater and Ulrich's eyes quickly snapped down to the exposed skin. Pressed against it was a little red swiss army knife. She pulled it out carefully and held it out to him.

"It used to belong to Simon, but he gave to me on my last birthday before he died. I bring it with me everywhere."

"You know you could get expelled, right?" Ulrich teased, deciding against delving into the topic of her brother. She'd already probably talked about him in a week more then she had in the past few years and there was no need to mentally exhaust her first thing in the morning.

"Psh, that's what you think, but one day Jim is going to get stuck on a bush or something and then I'll be there to save him and not only will he let me keep it; he'll reminisce of a time back during World War II where one of these saved his life from a giant alpaca."

A soon as she had finished saying that the two of them burst out into laughter. Aubrey leaned over so she was laughing into Ulrich's shoulder and to anyone one else walking by it would of he looked like he was laughing at her as she sobbed. By the time they had finished and wiped the tears from their eyes, the warning bells for classes started going off.

"Oh no! We're going to be late for science!" Aubrey exclaimed as she jumped up. Ulrich chuckled and tapped her lightly on the head.

"It's Monday, we have math."

"...Shut up."

They shared a smiled, then took off running down the path in order to get to class in time.

Ulrich discreetly passed Aubrey a note which landed quietly in the center of her desk.

_What's your favorite song? -U_

She couldn't help smiling as she hid the note in her math notebook so it looked like she was taking notes.

_Demons by Imagine Dragons. What's your favorite part about Lyoko? -A _

Once she finished writing, Aubrey crumbled the note and tossed it, landing a hit to Ulrich's nose which then bounced onto his lap. She stifled a laugh, bitting down on her lip when Jeremy scoffed from behind them. She could already see him rolling his eyes and trying to sear into their brains that they should be paying attention.

_Overbike. It's a vehicle that Jeremy made for me. Yumi and Odd each have one as well, but mines the best. -U _

Feeling a bit more daring, Ulrich dropped the note and then kicked it up with the side of his foot. Just barely turning her head to look, Aubrey's hand shot out and she caught the note with ease. Looking at it, she rolled her eyes.

_That's because you can't get your incense yet. In America, we can get our permit when we're sixteen and then with drivers ed our license in the same year. Speaking of that, I'm getting my permit on my birthday over april vacation :p -A _

They 'chatted' for a while longer until Jeremy's laptop let out a few beeps. Jeremy and Ulrich exchanged glances. It was only Ulrich, Jeremy and Aubrey in this math class. Aelita and Odd had history while Yumi was in science.

Ulrich quickly scribbled down a note. _Can you get us out of class? -U _

Aubrey looked over at him and gave him a thumbs up. Then, she doubled over like she was in pain and let out a muffled groan.

The teacher stopped his lesson and walked over to her. "Aubrey, are you alright?"

Clutching her stomach and putting shaking her head, Aubrey groaned again. "No. Cramps."

"Oh." The teacher stated awkwardly. The staff had already been informed that Aubrey got particularly bad 'cramps' during her time of the month (she did, but that wouldn't happen for another few days) and that she may have to be excused because of them. In her family, it was actually common for a woman to throw up when they got bad enough, and if that happened it was better for her to be with the nurse.

Seeing that Ulrich and Jeremy were sitting closest to her, the teacher quickly ordered them to escort her. They all got up and the two boys stood on either side of her as Aubrey shuffled awkwardly out of the room while holding her side. Once they made it out, she straightened up and grinned.

"Yes! No class for me!" She sang, twirling around a bit as they rushed down the hall. Jeremy and Ulrich rushed outside, but Aubrey stayed at the door.

"Aubrey?" Ulrich called turning back. Aubrey waved him off awkwardly.

"You uh, go to the factory with Jeremy. Tell him I'll get the others out of class so he doesn't have to worry about calling."

"Thanks a ton." He shot her a grateful smile and then dashed off into the woods. "By the way, Odd and Aelita are in history and Yumi's in science!" He called back.

"I got this!" She shouted, then turned back into the building.

_Alright, I'll get Odd and Aelita first. _

Aubrey sprinted down to the History room, triple checked that it was the right classroom and then knocked on the door. The teacher opened it, looking slightly peeved when it was just a student.

"Can I help you miss Johnson?"

"Er, are Odd Della Robbia and Aelita Ho-Stones here?"

"Yes."

"Oh, well uh, there's a call for them about a family emergency at the front desk from Odd's parents, and you know, since they're cousins..."

"Right. Why are you out of class?"

"Umm... I had to talk to Principle Delmas about some things and he asked me to get them on the way back." She lied quickly. Apparently, this was acceptable because the teacher called Odd and Aelita and dismissed them from class. They seemed worried at first, but sighed in relief when they saw Aubrey. Aelita opened her mouth to say something but was quickly cut off.

"Factory, X.A.N.A. attack, go. I'll get Yumi."

"Okay, thanks Aubrey." Odd shot her a smile and then took off running with Aelita.

_Four down, one to go._

It took her a little longer to find Ms. Hertz classroom but once she did everything else went smoothly. Aubrey told her the same story about Yumi getting a phone call and her on her way back from a meeting in order to get her friend out of class and the teacher agreed easily if only to get back to teaching. Yumi rushed out panicking.

"Aubrey, what's wrong. Is my family okay?"

"They're fine Yumi. It's a X.A.N.A attack. I already got everyone else out of class, so you should hurry over to the factory. Since I'm staying here anyway I guess I'll try and figure out what's wrong."

Yumi seemed hesitant to leave her at first, then agreed. "Okay, but as soon as you find out call us and come to the factory."

"Deal. Good luck!" She called, waving to her older friend as she rushed out. Sighing when she was out of sight, Aubrey hiked the straps of her backpack up onto her shoulders and set out for the courtyard. If anything major was happening, she should have been able to see it from there.

Luck was on her side, because there was nobody else there but her and nobody seemed to notice her either. She crept along the buildings, looking for a sign that anything was wrong. Everything seemed fine.

She wondered through several of the buildings as well and still didn't notice anything but children looking bored in their classes. She secretly smiled to herself. Sucks to suck.

Some of the last major places she had left to look were the soccer and track fields, so she headed over there. Along the way, she bumped into Jim.

"Oh hey Jim. I was uh- just trying to find the principles office. Could you show me where it is?"

Jim smirked at her but didn't say anything. Eyebrows furrowing, Aubrey looked up at him to see if he was okay. Instead, she found a symbol flashing in his eyes.

_X.A.N.A's symbol. _

"Crap." She muttered to herself, then yelped as Jim tried to punch her in the face. She ducked under it and spun, kicking him the gut and knocking him away from her in the process. With that opening, she took off running towards the woods.

She could hear Jim's footsteps thundering behind her as she darted into the trees. She tried to create as many obstacles for him as she could such as darting between thin tree's and jumping over logs, and though it did create some distance, she could never escape his sight.

Fumbling through her pocket's, she pulled out her phone and dialed Jeremy's number. It rang only once before he answered.

_"Hello?" _

"Jim's attacking me!" Aubrey screamed as she dove over a bush and rolled, then picked herself up and kept running. Looking back, she found that Jim had stopped for a second in a clearing and was looking for her. Gulping, she dove behind a rock and pressed herself against it, breathing heavily.

_"Where are you? Can you get to the factory?" _

"I'm in the woods not to far from the sewer entrance. Are you sure you want me to come there? Jim will probably follow me..."

_"You're safer here. It sounds like you've stopped running. Are you okay?" _

"Y-yeah. I'm hiding, but I'll try to get over to the sewer without being spotted. Call you later." She hung up and peaked behind the rock, finding that Jim was still standing in the clearing and looking for her. Biting her lip, Aubrey grabbed a pebble and chucked it in the opposite direction of herself when Jim wasn't looking. His head snapped over upon hearing it, and then he took off in that direction thinking he was chasing Aubrey.

Said girl got off the ground and dusted herself off. Once she was sure she was clear, she took off running for the sewers taking care to stay behind trees so that she couldn't be seen. She felt like crying in relief when she saw the cover and quickly slipped inside.

Luckily, there was still a skate board left for her to use so she snatched it quickly and set off down the cement pathways as she pulled out her phone again and dialed Jeremy.

_"Aubrey, where are you?" _

"I'm coming. I lost him, but I don't know how long until he comes back around again."

_"Soon I guess. When X.A.N.A realizes that he's lost you he'll send Jim straight to the factory. Get here quickly." _Jeremy said, then hung up. Aubrey slipped the phone back in her pocket and kicked her foot hard off the ground, speeding herself up.

Two minutes later she reached the factory. She scaled the ladder quickly and quietly and made her way inside just as she had once before (not including when Ulrich brought her.) As soon as she hit the ground, she dashed for the elevator and stepped inside, entering the code Jeremy had given her yesterday.

Once the doors opened again, Aubrey stepped into the lab where both Jeremy and Yumi were waiting. She glanced at Yumi confused but the girl smiled sheepishly.

"This isn't my week. At least last time Odd got devirtualized first and not me."

"Must be a great week for Ulrich then." Aubrey giggled, setting her bag against the wall. Yumi nodded in agreement as she looked at the girl.

_In more ways then one._

"So Jim was attacking you, right?" Yumi asked with a frown. Aubrey nodded.

"Yeah, he almost landed a punch to my face but I was able to duck, kick and run."

"Good. Jeremy, do you know where he is?"

"Let me do a quick scan with the security cameras."

Jeremy typed something furiously into his keyboard and yet another small screen popped up on the desktop. It ran through different numbers for a few seconds before showing an image of Jim in the sewers.

"He catches up fast." Aubrey commented, a hint of fear in her voice. Yumi nodded gravely.

"Jeremy, do you want me to go hold him up?"

"If you don't mind." The genius spoke with only the slightest bit of concern. Taking that as 'please do', Yumi started heading over to the elevator.

As she was half way there, Jeremy suddenly let out a cry. "Oh no!"

"What's wrong?" Yumi asked, spinning a one-eighty.

"Odd only has twenty life points left and Ulrich has fifty, and there still pretty far from the tower!"

"Send Aubrey." Yumi suggested with a slight hardness to her voice as she headed for the elevators. Aubrey called out to her.

"Yumi, will you be alright on your own?"

The older girl smiled warmly. "I'll be okay. However, I was serious before. Jeremy, you need to send her and make sure that Aelita gets to the tower. We still need a gym teacher."

"Are you sure?" Jeremy called as the yellow doors began to slide closed. Yumi shot him a thumbs up.

"Do it."

The elevator disappeared, taking Yumi with it.

"Aubrey, are you up for it?" Jeremy asked her. She gulped.

"If you need me I'll go."

"Thank you. Use that ladder over there to get down into the scanner room. I'll inform the others you're going."

"Okay. Tell them I expect a warm welcome!"

Gulping, Aubrey looked down the ladder and back at Jeremy one last time before beginning her descent. She felt as though there were a million butterflies all angrily fluttering around in her stomach.

_I'm going to Lyoko. _


End file.
